Augur (REP)
Basics * An Ethereum-based open source decentralized prediction market that leverages the wisdom of the crowds to create a search engine for the future that runs on its own token, REP. Augur allows users to create their markets for specific questions they may have and to profit from the trading buys while allowing users to buy positive or negative shares regarding the outcome of a future event. * "Augur, one of the first protocols built on the Ethereum blockchain, lets people trade on any assets or events in the world with unlimited stakes and for low fees. Since Augur is peer-to-peer, nobody has custody over users funds. Augur currently denominates trades in Ether, Ethereum's native cryptocurrency. In upcoming Augur v2, the first major upgrade, traders will use a stablecoin (DAI) pegged to the U.S. Dollar." * Early development of the software began in autumn 2014, mainnet was launched in summer 2018. ICO and Token * From August to October 2015, a global crowdfunding campaign raised US $5.2 million * Not Mineable. A total of 8.8 million (80%) of all 11 million tokens were sold to investors as part of the crowd sale. The remaining 2.2 million tokens were distributed to the team/advisors (16%) and to the Forecast Foundation (4%), a non-profit organization that is formally responsible for managing the maintenance, enhancement, and promotion of the platform. * From this post by Token Tuesdays (29-1-2020): "Augur is one of the original token economies to provide exogenous rewards for its token holders. With Augur v1, REP token holders have the ability to arbitrate prediction markets and earn ETH fees for honest reporting on outcomes. However, with the upcoming upgrade to Augur v2, the plan is to integrate DAI as the primary asset for betting on prediction markets." How it works * Whitepaper can be found here. * Supports 3 types of events: Binary (outcomes are YES and NO), Categorical (there are multiple discrete outcomes, for example, winning candidate in an election), and Scalar (there is a Lower and Upper boundary defined for such an event). * “In Augur, the ownership of outcome shares is currently recorded in the data structures of the smart contracts, and transfers are tightly controlled by the trading functions. This allows Augur to collect fees whenever the shares are traded (i.e. amount of fees is proportional to the trading volume). Fees are currently collected in ETH, and are specified as a parameter when a market is created (default suggested values are 1% for makers and 2% for takes). These fees are split 50/50 between the creator of the market and the REP holders who happen to participate in the resolution” * “Other than providing a source of income for market creators, and entertainment for speculators, Augur provides another useful feature by leveraging the wisdom of the crowd concept ( if you ask the same question to a large number of people, their average answer will always be far more accurate then the answer provided by a specialist), meaning that Augur can be used as the search engine for the future.” * Using the 0x protocol Roadmap * From EthHub Weekly #83 (15-10-2019): "Augur will be getting a major upgrade in Q1 of 2020 with the release of 0x trading, the integration of Dai, faster trading and a new native Augur betting UI." * From DeFi Rate (9-10-2019): "Three versions of Augur are due for release in quick succession at the beginning of next year. # The first is v1.5, which integrates 0x and allows partially off-chain trading. This off-chain extension aims to improve the speeds at which people can create and change orders, rather than wait for these changes to register on-chain. # The second release, v2, involves the integration of MakerDAO’s Dai token. # Finally, the v3 release is intended to be a “fast-trading” version of the platform, which will improve the overall trading experience and especially liquidity. Augur also plans to provide its users with an easy-to-access mobile user interface, as well as build and deliver tools for market-making." Usage * Although Augur did launch it failed to get immediate huge success (low usage), it does create interesting use cases. One example can be found here. * The top 10 markets total hit $5.35mil in early December on Augur. Critique from Nic Carter * "Users have been complaining about being misled by tricky contracts, markets resolving incorrectly, or poorly-worded contracts. Aside from amateurishly-drafted contracts (this is what we pay lawyers for, folks) borking in interesting ways, Augur faces the more general problem of ''might makes right on the platform. It’s possible by repeatedly appealing markets to get a favorable, albeit incorrect, outcome."'' Team, partnerships, etc. Team * Krug, Joey; co-founder * Peterson, Jack; co-founder * Micah Zoltu; an independent software developer who is also one of the co-authors of the original white paper * Bernstein, Ron; advisor * Jeremy Gardner Partners * Has worked with Startup Studio (7-2019) * As of 7-2019 on the partner & clients list of ZeppelinOS. They have done a security audit of Augur Core. Category:Coins/Tokens